Hi Again Joe,
I still enjoy HO down at the club, my Challengers really have room to stretch their legs out and go somewhere. At home, when I finish making room for it, I will be doing an O-Gauge 3-Rail layout it will be a bit shy of 8' wide and 14-15' long, we always want more room, but I have a track plan in mind that I should be able to work with, with the O-72 curves that I will need for some of my Locomotives, as well as some others that are on my "I'm gonna get me one of those some day" list.
O-Gauge 3-Rail can be done in a lot smaller space than many realise. With smaller Locomotives, even the scale Harriman 2-8-0s don't look too bad to me on O-31 curves. Keep with the smaller cars such as 40' boxcars, 2 bay hoppers and smaller tank cars and 40' flats which would all be in use during the time that the Harriman Common Standard 2-8-0s were in service any way and the tighter curves work all right. Lionel's LionMaster series of Locomotives are designed to run on O-31 curves, even the Big Boys, Cab-Forwards and Challengers, there are things hanging out in space, that ought not be, and you need to keep wide spacing between tracks if you have these, but they do RUN and Look GREAT.
I have never lived in Western NY, but I am guessing that You don't want to expand outside because of cold winter weather. That doesn't have to stop You, just bundle up. I have heard of some LARGE Scalers that actually LOOK FORWARD to winter, they get a HUGE kick after the snow falls getting out their snowplows and plowing the lines clear. ( I think that I could get into that) Gauge 1 trains unfortunately really don't fit either my yard or my BUDGET, especially with my "I'm Gonna get Me one of those some day" list still being to long in O-Gauge.
Whatever direction that You decide to go, just make sure that You HAVE FUN DOING IT. That is what it is all about. I may not consider my Trains a FINANCIAL INVESTMENT, but I do consider them an investment in MY SANITY.
Doug
May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails
Thanks for the site links. I'll keep looking cause I've got the time right now.
Doug, Thats about what happened to me with HO scale about 8 years ago, but now it sits in boxes with a track plan I'm not happy with. The HO atlas engines w/sound got me rekindled in HO but that has since worn off.
So then I see the MTH G scale about five years ago and started buying it. I have a double track main in the basement but expansion has to go outside and I'm not willing to do that in Western NY! So that brings me here, wondering about O scale that would operate with ease and reliability of my G scale. Joe
Hi Joe,
I think that you would get used to the third rail. The brain is really good at ignoring things that may not "Belong" but have a reason for being there. An example is the amount of space most layouts are built in, the HO club that I am in our layout room is 4200 square feet, 60x70, roughly one square mile, but we model the Columbia River Gorge from Portland, OR to Wishram, WA, the Oregon Trunk Line from Wishram to Bend, OR and a very nice Logging division all in that One Square mile.
I had been ( and still am) an HO modeler for more than 30 years now, just 3 years ago, if someone had told how involved I would be in 3-Rail now, I would have LAUGHED at them and told them they were NUTS. My HO Steamers weren't cutting it under the Christmas Tree, picking up pet hair in the running gear. So I went down to my LTS Whistle Stop Trains, and Charlie sold me a Lionel UP Hudson jr, half a dozen freight cars, track and transformer. Just a set "For Under the Christmas Tree". WOW the O-Gauge Bug bit me BAD, I ended up with a case so serious that I almost had to notify the CDC in Atlanta. The pic below is part of my collection that I displayed when the LOTS (Lionel Operating Train Society) visited our club last June during their national convention here in Portland, OR. I have since added both of the Lionel UP FEF-3s and have in shipping right now the Lionel SP AC-9 2-8-8-4 and a Lionel 3 Truck Shay. Like I said, I got a very serious case of the Highly contagious, but rarely Fatal ( I don't have a Wife to catch me buying Trains) O-Gauge Virus.
You should look at some of the High-Rail Layouts featured in CTT, You can still do the structures and scenery to rival a layout in any other scale, and still have the advantages of 3-Rail.
BTW, That Little Hudson earned it's TOP CENTER position on the display by being the Locomotive that got Me Hooked on O-3 Rail to begin with, bought that, and I never had a chance afterwards. Click pic to enlarge.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oscalekings/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OSCALEMODELERS/
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Otrains/
http://www.oscalemag.com/
http://users.foxvalley.net/~osn/
These links will get you started. O 2-rail is very impressive but very large and very expnsive, though you can get started very reasonably using Atlas O and Weaver 2-rail. You could also add Narrow Gauge into the mix, expensively with On3 brass and cheaply with On30 (mostly Bachmann):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/On30conspiracy/
Some folks even correct the gauge and wheels to true 1/48 scale and call it Proto48.
I don't think you'll find too many 2-rail posts on this forum. The decision you need to make should be based on what feels best for you, in your circumstances. 2-rail items are generally more expensive, often of brass construction, though as you noted MTH is making their share of 2-rail capable equipment at the same price as 3-rail. 3-rail has one advantage you did not allude to, and that is that 3-rail engines can run on much tighter radius track. This makes for more interesting layouts in a smaller space. I suggest you try to define what "floats your boat" by buying a 3-rail RTR set and trying that, and then if need be put together a small 2-rail setup. Nothing compares to actually trying it out on your own.
NH Chris
I was looking into O scale and thought of two rail track with DCS control. Of course I missed the ECLSTS and would have seen MTH 2 rail offerings ( I am in arbitration trying to win my job back, so no trains for me!). I wandered to another site of O scale posts and they have a whole separate forum just for two railers. They had the post on the ECLSTS. It's not nearly as popular as 3 rail. I started wondering how many people are into this 2 rail. I have heard from a good number of the three railers and understand the benefits. I just like the look of two rails. I figured if I purchased a sd70ac with scale wheels to start I could decide which track to run on later? It looks like the rolling stock would have to be converted to 2 rail trucks? More hastles!
Then I see the site of toytrainsontracks and wonder if I'm going the wrong direction. Maybe I've got too much time on my hands. I apologize if needed, Joe
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